Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G

Let me start off by saying that the camera is really really good, the amount of detail captured is amazing. I have not had any issues with battery life with moderate use. I opted for 256gb of storage. The only thing I am adjusting to is the biometric reader being on screen as my last device an S8 had the reader on back of device. The only thing I would add would be for it to sense my finger above the reader and show me where to touch it, that would be awesome. I have not been able to test the S-pen, so I have have no feed back on that.

This phone is coupled with Bixby is extremely intuitive. Bixby has gotten a lot of bad press lately. But let's face it, no one is good at everything. So I let Bixby work to it's strengths. Watching movies or just TV on my phone is great. The clarity is better than our 50" flat screen. The camera is a miracle, but I'm not a shutterbug. The pictures it takes are excellent. This is going to be a difficult phone to top. Keep up the good work!

It really isn't an exaggeration to say that this is the most amazing phone ever made the screen is incredible the camera system is mind-blowing and the processing power is 10 * faster than my Galaxy S10. Every day I learn something new and amazing that this phone can do. the battery lasts all day it never goes below 30%. Gaming is a whole new experience. It works seamlessly with my Google home and with my Chromebook and I look forward to learning more and more about its capabilities

Absolutely amazing camera, I can't stop playing with it. Battery life is great and speed is unprecedented. It's bulky and heavy, but who cares.

I could go on about all the sick features this phone has, but honestly we all know this phone has loads of them. I'm specifically coming here to write a review based on hot oil submersion factor. See, I work in a kitchen, and I accidentally dropped my phone straight into completely hot fryer oil and let it sit there there at least a minute between being completely shocked, and trying to get it out. Got it out, and the worst that happened was all my apps shut down to avoid overheating. Hours later, it is still working 100% fine with no issues whatsoever. Certified hot oil approved!

I would say the pros outweigh the cons; it just depends on what you prioritize first when it comes to picking out a phone. I appreciate that they lowered the price and it's not crazy expensive like the Galaxy S20 Ultra because the S21 didn't include a charging block, nor Bluetooth earbuds. I already have all that stuff, so it was nice to be able to only pay for the phone. It allows you to choose from the different earbuds from Samsung, or even earbuds from a different company that is drastically cheaper if you wanted to. If you don’t like finding all these things separately, then this could be an inconvenience for you. I gave the style 4 stars because they only had certain colors for certain phones (I wanted Phantom Silver, but they only had that for the 128GB, and I wanted the 256GB which only came in Phantom Black). The phone is huge. If you take lots of selfies, you may need to start lifting some weights. You get used to it though (I always get the "plus" versions, so I'm used to a big phone, but if you are really switching things up, it might be really heavy to you). I was able to find some camera lens protectors that cover the whole camera which was nice; there were also some cases that slide and cover the camera which I thought was cool. The phone does not come with a micro SD slot, but it's 2021 and cloud/ online storage services are being used more, and it's not hard to transfer data over to a portable hard drive. I have stacks of micro SD cards that I haven't looked at in forever, or I have already transferred that data to my portable hard drive. I use them for my Nintendo Switch now. Also, I would only be able to store certain things on to the SD card anyways. Removing the micro SD slot is kinda like going paperless if you think about it. It's one of those things where it's nice to have the option, but it's not an issue, unless you use use them for a specific purpose and absolutely need that feature. In addition, the missing aux port isn’t great either, but I can live without it/ I don't really use it anymore anyways. You can get a USB-C to aux for fairly cheap if you need it. The reason I like Samsung over Apple is because you are able to customize it in greater detail. I'm glad they got rid of the Bixby button and you are able to disable the app so it doesn't bother you (although, I do wish we could uninstall it). There are only volume buttons and a power button which you can customize- super simple. I use widgets a lot. Changing all these settings and displays can be time-consuming, but it's nice to be able to set up your phone to fit your wants, needs, and personality. I believe Samsung phones cater more towards tech-savvy people (not that people with iPhones aren't tech-savvy, just when people make the switch from an iPhone to Android, it can be overwhelming and there is a lot to learn). They do have an "easy mode" you can switch to if you want it to be simpler though. No issues with overheating. The battery isn't as amazing as I thought it would be; it's still good and better than my old phone. Your battery life will depend on how much you use your phone and your phone/ display settings. However, it does charge incredibly fast. The camera definitely needs a review of its own. In a nutshell, they fixed the focusing issues they have had with their previous phones (at least for me it seems that way, and it does have a focusing sensor). My pictures come out insanely well and I feel like it has elevated my Instagram. There’s a lot you can do with the cameras, so I believe this would be great for content creators. You can tell the video stabilization is better as well. Although the ability to shoot in 8K isn’t necessary, it is a nice feature to have when 8K TV’s are the norm- making this phone more relevant for the long run. Overall, very happy with this phone and glad I took advantage of the pre-order specials. If you're picky, thinking of switching from Apple to Samsung, or this phone is a big financial investment for you, I would maybe go over some YT videos on people doing tests or comparisons to see if they have what you’re mostly looking for. Hope this helps.